Helical coiler and assembler



June 10, 1930.

, F. M. FORBES HELICAL COILER AND ASSEMBLER Filed Aug. 15, 1927 4 Sheets -Sheet avwvmtom June 10,1930. F. M. FORBES HELICAL COILER AND ASSEMBLER Filed Aug. 15, 1927 4 Sheets-Sheet ahuzmtoz Jam e June 10, 1930.

F. M. FORBES HELICAL' COILER AND ASSEMBLER Filed Aug. 15, 192 4 Sheets-Sheet June 10, 1930. F. M. FORBES 1 7 HELICAL GOILER AND AS SEM BLER Filed Aug. 15, 1927 gsheets-sheet 4 v amount I N a attozump U these Patented June 10, 1930 UNITED STATES PATENT .OFFICE- FERRY M. FORBES, OF DETROIT, MICHIGAN, ASSIGNOR TO PREMIER CUSHION SPRING COMPANY, OF DETROIT, MICHIGAN, A CORPORATION OF MICHIGAN HELICAL COILER AND ASSEMBIiER Application filed August 15, 1927. "serial No. 213,051.

The present invention pertains to a novel machine for intersecting helical springs of the type used for joining the conical springs of spring cushion construct-ions. Hitherto intersected springs or ties have been wound one into the other by hand. The object of the present invention, as already 1ndicated, is to provide a machine for this operation.

The machine of the invention includes a holder into which the helical spring issuing from the forming element is received. By means of suitable timed mechanism, the formed spring is gripped in the holder,

severed "from the original wire, and the holder is then turned to a position which brings the formed spring into aline inter-' secting the line of ejection from the forming element. While the formed spring is held 1n such position, another spring section is coiled in the forming element-and ejected therefrom so that it passes through the first formed spring. After the formation of -the second spring, the cutter again comes 1nto operation, and an ejector discharges the two intersected springs from the holder. ThlS cycle is repeated, whereby the intersected springs or ties are formed in an automatic and continuous operation.

The invention is fully disclosed, by way of example, in the following description, and in the accompanying drawings, in which- Figurel is an end view of the machine; Fig. 2 is a plan view thereof;

Fig. 3 is a detail of Figure 2, showing the ejector rod advanced one stage;

Fig. 4 is aside elevation partly broken away to show the inner cam structure;

Fig. 5 is a section on the line 5-5 of Figure 4;

Fig. 6 is a detail plan view, showing the coil holder in a tilted position;

Fig. 7 is a fragmentary vertical section showing the front end of the. coil holder in elevation; and

Fig. 8 is a similar section showing the coil holder in tilted position and a second coil passed through the first coil.

Reference to these views will now be made by use of like characters which are employed to designate corresponding parts throughout. I

The machine has a frame which includes a base 1 and a' pair of side walls 2 and 3 in which is journaled a main shaft 4 equipped atone end with a pulle 5. The shaft 4 carrles agear 6 to whic is affixed a face cam 7 and a cylindrical cam 8. The functions of these cams are described ingreater detail hereinafter. i I A pair of brackets 9 extend inwardly from the 'wall 3 and have a rocker 10 pivoted therebetween. One end of the rocker carries a roller 11 riding on the cam 8 and held in place by a headed pin 12 secured in the same end of the rocker. The wall -3 is also provided at its upper edge'with a pair of a rounded head 19 bearing on the lower surface of the adjacent ear 16, and the upper .end is clamped to the corresponding ear 17 by nuts 20. The sleeve 14 is penetrated by a rotatable countershaft 21 having at one end pinion 22 meshing with the drive" gear 6 and at the other end a grooved feed roller A spring 24 (Figures .1 and 4) inserted between the fingers 13 and bearing upwardly on the sleeve 14 tends to lift the roller 23.

Another feed roller 25 positioned. directly beneath the roller 23 is carried loosely by the main shaft 4 and is rotated only when in tangential contact with the'member-23. In

line with the common tangent to the ,rollers,

when in contact.

The deflector or coiler of the machine ers and fed into the machine by the rollers com rises, as. usual, a block bolted to the rame' at 31 and having a groove 32 of such configuration as to coil the wire 28 as -it is passed therethrough. The helical sprin 33 formed in this manner is ejected at su tantially right angles to the enter-- ing straight wire 28. The pitch -of the spring is determined by a wedge shaped ly in the notch 37.

. jecting there rom at one side 0 the rod. In the head 43 are pivoted a pair A bearing 40 is formed alon .the upper edge of'the wall 3 and has a s eeve 41 rotatably mounted therein as clearlyshown in Figure 3. In the sleeve isslidably mounted an ejector or kick-out rod 42.. The forward or inner end of the rod 41 has fixed thereto, exteriorly of the bearing 40, a head 43 having a air of spaced fingers 44 prothe axis of of gripping fingers 45 positioned to cooperate with the fingers 44. The concealed end 46 of 'each pivoted finger is engaged by a compressed spring 47 inserted in the head whereby the fingers 45 are normally urged towards the fingers 44. The lower edges of the'pivote'd fingers are notched or undercut as-at, 48, and the inner end of the rod 42.

carries a' head 49 which, when partially retracted from the notches as shown in Figure 4, holds the pivoted. fingers 45 loose with respect to the coil spring, and which when received entirely in the notches, permits the pivoted fingers to clamp the coil against the fixed fingers 44 and head 49.

A' cutter bar 50 is slidably mounted transversely of the frame and carries at one ,end a cutting tool 51, the cutting edge of which is adapted to pass across the groove 32 in the deflector 30. When actuated for the purpose of cutting, the cutting edgeof the tool cooperates with one of the lower edges of the spaces 34 to efiect shearing of the wire.

'. The cam 8 has adepression 8' (Figure 4) which, when entered by the roller 11- on the rocker 10, permits the other end to rise,

followed by a lifting of the roller 23 under the action of the spring 24.- Atthis time the rollers 23 and 25 are relaxed with 'ref-.

erence to the wire 28', and the feeding of f the wire to the coiler is discontinued. The

higher part of the cam 8 is so dimensioned that it will feed sufficient wire for the, dei gedd length of coil before the roller 23 is Another countershaft -is journaled in -the machine parallel to the shafts 4 and 21 and carries a gear 56 meshing with a pinion 57 of half size on the shaft 4. Consequently the shaft 55 is driven at half the angular velocity of the shaft 4. On the shaft 55 is mounted a face cam which has a rise 58 and a depression 59 joined by slopes 60. The

1 back of this cam has a shoulder 61 surrounded by an edge cam 62 fixed to the gear by screws 63 passed through slots 64- in the cam. The member 62 fits over the shoulder 61 and thus constitutes a clamp, in conjunction with the screws 63, whereby both cams are bound to the gear 56 which is keyed to the shaft 55. At one end of the machine isformed a bracket 64 which, with an upright bearing 65 on the base of the to the shaft 4. One end of the shaft has secured thereto an arm 67 carrying at its free end a roller 68 which rides on the cam 'machine, supports a shaft 66' also parallel 62 as shown in Figure 4. The ejector rod 42 carries at its outer end a sleeve 69 in which the rod may turn but does not slide. Ears 70 extend laterally from the sleeve 69 and receive the fingers 72 of a forked arm 71 secured to the shaft 66. When the roller 23 is lifted by the action already described, the roller 68 drops into a depres-.

sion 73 in the cam 62 of such size as to slide the rod 42 until the spacing head 49 at the forward end thereof enters the notches 48 in the pivoted fingers 45 so that the latter are spring pressed upon the coil 33 therebcneath. As soon as the helical spring is thus gripped, the cam 7 passes a roller 74 carried by the cutter bar 50 whereby the latter is shifted to shear the Wire and separate the coil The roller 74 is held firmly in engagement with the cam 7 and the bar 50 is normally retracted by 'a spring 50 surrounding the outer end thereof and compressed between the side wall 2 and a washer 50 carried by the bar as shown in Figure 1.

At the base of the machine is still another bearing 75 accommodating a shaft 76 having an arm 77 at the inner end thereof and a longer arm 78 at the outer'end. This arm is joined by a link 7 8 to still another arm 79 fixed to the sleeve 41. The shorter arm 77 carries a roller 80 which rides on the cam 5860. The arm 77 has an .extension 81 (Figure 1) connected to the frame by a spring 81' which holds the roller 80 firmly in contact with the cam 58-60. Immediately after the wire has been cut, and while the roller 68 is still in the depression 73, the roller 80 passes from the rise 58 to the depression 59 of the cam and thus causes the sleeve 41 to be moved through from the position shown in-Figure 7 to that shown in Figure 8. It will be seen from Figure 4 that after this action the rollers 68 and '80 are not displaced by their respective cams for about 180. During this period however .the contact between the feed roll 23 and 25 has been resumed and another length of wire is passed through the coiler. The front of the head 49 carries a guide 49 which receives this second coil and permits it to be wound through the first coil as shown in Figure 8. Fi ures 2-and 3 show that one of the pivoted ngers 45 extends forwardly farther than the other so that the first coil is ejected from the coiler in a line not exactly parallel to the transverse axis of the ma-. chine.

Before another displacement of the cams 68 and 80 occurs, the cutter is again actuated since its operating cam 7 travels at twice the angular velocity of the cams on the shaft 55. After the second coil has been cut, the roller 68 drops into a still deeper depression 82 in the cam 62, and this movement causes the ejector rod to be thrustforward from the position shown in Figure 3, whereupon the intersected'helical springs are moved from beneath the fingers 45 against the action of the springs 47 and thus ejected from the machine. The forward face 49 of the head 49 has the same angularity as the axis of the first formed coil 33. The roller 68is then Although a specific embodiment of the invention has been illustrated and described, it will be understood that various alterations in the details of construction may be made without departing from the scope of the invention as indicated by the appended claims.

What I claim is:

1. A spring forming machine comprising a helical spring forming and ejecting element and means for feeding wire thereto, the combination of a holder adapted to receive the springfissued from said element, means for tilting said holder to retain the spring in a line intersected by the line of ejection from said element, means for maintaining said holder in tilted position during the formation of another spring and an ejector operable in said holder and adapted to eject said spring into the first spring while held in said position.

2. A spring forming machine comprising a helical spring forming and ejecting element and means for feeding wire thereto, the combination of a holder comprising fixed and spring pressed fingers adapted to grip the spring issued from said forming element,

a spacer block adapted to hold said spring pressed fingers spaced from the spring, and

means for pushing said block to the free ends of said fingers whereby to eject the and means for pushing said block to the free ends of said fingers whereby to eject the spring from the holder.

4. A spring forming machine comprising av helical spring forming and ejecting element and means for feeding wire thereto, the combination of a holder comprising fixed and spring pressed fingers adapted to grip the spring issued from said forming element, a spacer block adapted to hold said spring pressed fingers spaced from the spring, and means for pushing said block to the free ends of said fingers whereby to eject the spring from the holder, said spring pressed fingers being notched to receive the block whereby to permit said fingers to clamp the spring.

5. A spring forming machine comprising a helical spring forming and ejecting ele-- ment and means for feeding wire thereto, the combination of a holder comprising fixed and spring pressed fingers adapted to grip the spring issued from said forming element, a spacer block adapted to hold said spring pressed fingers spaced from the spring, means for tilting said holder to retain the spring in a line intersected by the line of ejection from said forming element, and means for pushing said block to the free ends of said fingers whereby to eject the spring from the holder, said spring pressed fingers being notched to receive the block whereby to permit said fingers to clamp the spring.

6. A spring forming machine comprising a helical spring forming and ejecting ele-- ment and means for feeding wire thereto, the combination of means for tilting the formed spring to a line intersected by the line of ejection from said element, a severing device adjacent said forming element, and means for stopping said feeding means and actuating. said severing device prior to tilting said spring.

7. A spring forming machine comprising a helical spring forming and ejecting element and means for feeding wire thereto, the combination of a holder adapted to receive the spring issued from said element,

means for tilting said holder to retain the spring in a line intersected by the line of eject-ion from said element, a severing device adjacent said forming element, and means for stopping said feeding means and actuating said severing device prior to tilting said holder.

8. A spring forming machine comprising a helical spring forming and ejecting-elem ment and means for feeding Wlle thereto,

the combination of a holder adapted to receive the spring issued from said element, -means for tilting said holder to retain the spring in a line intersected by the line of ejection from .said .element, a severing device adjacent said forming element, means for stopping said feeding means and actuating said! severing device prior to tilting said holder, and an ejector operable in said holder. i I

9. A spring forming machine comprising a helical spring forming and ejecting element and means for feeding wire thereto,

the, a combination of a holder comprising v fixed and spring pressed fingers adapted to grip the spring issued from said forming element, a spacer block adapted to hold said spring pressed fingers spaced from the spring, means for tilting said holder to retain the spring in a line intersectedgby the line of ejection from said forming element, means for pushing said block to the free ends of said fingers whereby to eject the spring from the holder, a severingdevice adjacent said forming element, and means for stopping said feeding means and actuating said severing device prior to tilting said holder.

10. A spring forming machine comprising a helical spring forming and ejecting element and means for feeding wire thereto, the combination of a holder comprising fixed and spring pressed fingers adapted to grip the spring issued from said forming element, a spacer block adapted to hold said spring pressed fingers spaced from the spring, means for tilting said holder to retain the spring in a line intersected by the' line of ejection from said forming elemyment, means for pushing said block to the free ends of saidfingers whereby to eject the spring from the holders, said spring pressed fingers being notched to re- .ceive the block whereby to permit said vl5 fingers to clamp thespnng, a severing device adjacent said forming element, and means for stopping said feeding means; and actuating said severing device prior to tilting said holder. 00 In testimony whereof I aflix my signature.

FERRY M. FORBES. 

